So Hip to be a Square

Hello my fellow weekenders!  I have this lovely day off work.  As you can probably guess, I slept late, stayed in my cozy bed for a bit catching up on the social media, and now I am sitting at the table drinking coffee and eating a little pumpkin bread for breakfast.  I have a few errands to run this afternoon, as well some homework to do, but in between those plans I will be catching up on blog posts!  I had some wifi issues earlier this week, and have been working long, stressful shifts almost everyday, but I have some great pics from the past couple weeks to share!  Hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving!

(photo by e.hunt)

The Coffee District

Yesterday was the beginning of the Christmas season at Starbucks' everywhere.  That means Christmas merchandise, Christmas espresso, holiday decorations and pastries, red aprons, and of course, red cups.  Last year there was quite a controversy over how plain the red cups were without any illustrations or holiday imagery, but they used that to their advantage.  Customers started drawing their own designs on the blank red canvas, and Starbucks chose a number of them to feature on this year's red cups.  They're pretty neat.

We had a lot of disgruntled customers remark that it is too early for Christmas, but really, Thanksgiving is now less than two weeks away, and most stores started their holiday campaigns the day after Halloween, so Starbucks is actually late!  I also happen to think that a little Christmas cheer could do us all some good after Tuesday's events.

Even though it's still in the high 50s-low 60s outside, I played some Christmas music while dying my hair yesterday.  A little Frank, Dean, and Bing was all I needed to improve my mood.  And because our store is packed with Christmas coffee now, I used my free weekly pound of coffee to get some Christmas Blend instant packets!

(photos collected from Starbucks, and by e.hunt)

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Chaos

I have experienced a range of emotions today: disbelief, disillusion, sadness, fear, anger.  I am in disbelief that I am writing this somber article, rather than one of excitement for our first female president.  I am in disillusion in that there are so many people in this country who support these backward ideals and abhorrent behavior.  I am sad that these people felt that this was the answer to our country’s problems.  I am afraid for friends and strangers alike who will feel the brunt of the hatred.  And I am mad as hell, for all of the above reasons.

To all of the people who voted for Big Donny, I have yet to hear or read an eloquent reason for your vote, or an explanation as to why you turned your back on people different from you.  I, and the rest of the world (who are laughing at us), am waiting.  In all of this though, I am trying to continue to have hope.  Hope that good moral conscious will outweigh the upcoming hatred towards women, minorities, people of non-Christian faiths, the disabled, the poor, and the LGBT community.

In my confusion, I look to the thing that gives me comfort: movies.  In movies, hope is everywhere.  In all of my beloved fantasy world epics like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Harry Potter, the evil always wins in the second part.  Frodo falls to darkness while Sauron’s orc army grows, Luke’s hand is cut off and Han is frozen in carbonite, and Voldemort gets closer and closer to Harry.  Even in stories that don’t spread over two or three movies, the protagonist always suffers a setback before rising up and defeating the evil.  We are experiencing that Part Two right now.  Evil has prevailed today, but good will overcome.  We have to push through and believe that all people deserve better, and eventually we will see Part Three.  Good always wins.

I will not stand united for this country because clearly, we are not united in our beliefs that all humans deserve respect.  We all have to live in this world together (which may not survive much longer thanks to our environment-hating new leading party), and I would rather see a world of understanding, rather than hate.  I will stand with those who renounce bigotry, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and assholism.  And in the end, it is us who will win.  Because after all, this is only Part Two.

(photos collected from starwars, goodreads, and funbuzztime)

In a Way I Wonder

This is my setting for the morning.  Catching up on blogs and emails, drinking coffee, and looking out the window.  Doesn't the table look nice?  Dad finished it up last week and Taylor helped deliver it on Friday after a delicious dinner at Dewey's.  I love the color of it.

I can't wait to start an art project or two at the table.  And you know what will be really nice?  I can leave it out for days at a time, along with all the supplies and everything!  Although it may have to wait until after the semester is over; the homework mountain just keeps building.  It will be so nice to have that month and a half winter break.  And this year Taylor and I will be home rather than gallivanting around Europe.  It was a trip of a lifetime, but it will be nice to be with family.  Although we kindof were, digitally.  Remember our Christmas family portrait?!

(photos by e.hunt)

Day Dreamer, Night Thinker

Good morning, everyone!  I hope you all had a lovely week.  Mine was busy, as usual, but good.  I worked the last four days and because we are short on baristas, it was stressful every day.  We survived though, and I found out that our manager just hired three new people and is planning to hire three or four more.  Hopefully I won't be working 30-35 hour weeks every week anymore, although once the semester is over I can work that much through the holidays, so we'll see.  More people is definitely a good thing, but it will be tough because this is kindof late to start training people for holiday madness (I was hired for the holiday but I started training the beginning of October!), but any and all extra bodies will be so helpful.  Come on in and enjoy a festive latte!

School was boring this week, and the homework never ends, but I've found that if I do a little bit every day or every other day (some days I just don't want to look at a textbook!) it is easier to stay on top of everything.  There's only five weeks left!

Speaking of five weeks left of school, that means there's only seven weeks left until Christmas!  Time to start brainstorming gift ideas!  I think I'm going to hang paper snowflakes from my ceiling as part of my Christmas decorations, and after Thanksgiving I'm planning on getting a little Christmas tree so the apartment will smell like winter goodness.  Now all we need is for the weather to start acting like winter.  Or fall, at least!  

This is the first Saturday I've had off of work in a while (moving day didn't really count) and I am reveling in it.  I slept late, made some coffee, and have a full afternoon planned of errands, visiting Mom's first craft show, unpacking another box or two, and probably a little homework.  And tomorrow it's back to the opening, eight-hour shift grind.  Hope you all have some fun things planned for your weekend as well!

(photos by e.hunt)